I hope you all are well. We are already in spring with the school’s Spring breaks already finished and in the rear-view mirrors.

April is a month with a lot of significance for the Jewish community. Jews around the world celebrate the Exodus from slavery in Egypt with Pesach or Passover, then we commemorate Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day, then Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day in Israel, followed by Yom Ha‘Atzmaut or Israel Independence Day.

I always thought Pesach and Yom HaShoah could be linked. Exodus and Holocaust. The day of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was April 19, 1943. That day on the Hebrew calendar was the 15th of Nisan, the first night of Passover or the first Seder. To mark and remember the Shoah years later, the religious leaders objected to commemorating the tragedy on the first day of the festival, saying that Jews could not celebrate the Exodus’s freedom and the oppression of the Shoah on the same date. Since Nisan is a month without lamentation, the religious leaders and the political leaders in the Israeli Parliament compromised agreeing on the 27th of Nisan, unless the day falls on Shabbat or Passover.

The link between Passover and Yom HaShoah is that the Jewish community followed the lead of the survivors. Survivors were committed to remembering the Holocaust and remembering the human behavior in the camps. Because they faced death, the survivors spoke about the lessons they experienced. What is most important in life is family, community, love, and Tikkun Olam, the ethical responsibility to create a better world.

In Passover we are committed to remembering that we were slaves in Egypt and that’s why the Biblical experience has framed the difficulties of freedom ever since.

As you think about the ideas of freedom and liberation during the Passover season, I ask you continue to think about our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. JFNA continues to use your donations to make a real difference on the ground in Ukraine. If you would like to stay current and get more information from the Jewish Federation of North America, I invite you to join the Ukraine crisis update webinar each week on Mondays and Thursdays at 3:30pm.

You can continue to read more about JFNA efforts in Ukraine and donate here.

Shabbat Shalom

·       8 large eggs, cold

·       1 lb. dark, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

·       16 Tbsp. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

·       optional toppings: powdered sugar and/or berries

1.     Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides of the pan. (Be sure to grease the sides well!) Wrap the outside of the pan with 2 sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil and set it in a large roasting pan, or any pan that’s larger than the springform. Bring a kettle or pot of water to boil.

2.    Beat the eggs at high speed until the volume doubles. This usually takes about 5 minutes.

3.    Melt the chocolate and butter in the stove or you can do this in the microwave (by heating the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring in between). Then fold about a third of the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture using a large rubber spatula until only a few streaks of egg are visible. Fold in half of the remaining egg foam, and then the last half of the foam, until the mixture is totally homogenous.

4.    Scrape the batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Place the roasting pan on the oven rack and VERY carefully pour in enough boiling water to come about halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the cake has risen slightly, the edges are just beginning to set, a thin-glazed crust (like a brownie) has formed on the surface, and an instant-read thermometer inserted halfway into the center reads 140° F, 22-25 minutes. Remove the springform pan from the water bath and set on a wire rack, cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until cool.

5.    About 30 minutes prior to serving, carefully remove the sides of the springform pan, invert the cake onto a sheet of waxed paper, peel off the parchment paper, and reinvert the cake onto a serving platter. If desired, lightly dust the cake with powdered sugar and top with berries. To slice, use a sharp, thin-bladed knife, dipping the knife into a pitcher of hot water and wiping the blade before each cut.

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